Where, under what carpet, will I keep it - FM's Reply To Budget Discussions
In his reply to the budget discussions, the Finance Minister said,
Budget is an annual exercise, a constitutional requirement under Article 102. But it is not a ritualistic exercise because it is formulated in the context of the economic philosophy of ruling Party and also in the context - since the beginning of our planned economic development - of the Five-year Plan though, nowadays, the five-year period of the Government and the five-year tenure of the Five-Year Plan do not synchronise because of the periodical elections to Lok Sabha.
When the Budget is presented, it is presented by the Finance Minister. But during these eight weeks the entire House is involved in one way or other in analysing the Budget proposals, dissecting it and reviewing it from various angles. First in the General Discussion, the Members participate; but much more important is that after the Vote on Account, for almost four weeks, sometimes more than that, both the Houses divide themselves into Parliamentary Standing Committees and examine the Demands of all the Ministries and Departments. Therefore, they have the involvement during these eight weeks with the budgetary exercise.
Therefore, to save the economy, I had to provide two stimulus packages in the Interim Budget of last year and thereafter in the General Budget to continue and when I had to withdraw partly the fiscal stimulus because always one scenario haunted me which many of the old Members, particularly the former Leader of the Opposition, Shri Advaniji and others will remember, that this country had to face the ignominy of pledging its gold to a foreign bank just to borrow a few hundred million dollars of foreign exchange to buy certain essentials.
Economic issues are to be addressed with proper economic perspective so that we can find out a solution to the problem. Therefore, if we increase the limit of the agricultural credit, it is to address that. What is the demand of all the kisans? Major political parties say that you bring down the interest rate to the level of four per cent. Are we not trying to achieve that? If we bring it down from seven per cent to six per cent, and six per cent to five per cent, is it not for the aam admi? Is it for the amir? Therefore, you have every right to criticize. You do criticize. As Opposition, you do dissect, oppose and expose, but do not forget the truth and do not distort the facts. Therefore, this is the aspect that we shall have to keep in mind.
Much has been talked about the petroleum prices. I am not going to make any comparison as to how many times and in what percentages the prices of petrol and diesel were increased. When we bought at the international price, when the Indian basket crude was varying from USD 12 to USD 36, how many times did we increase the price? By what percentage did we increase the price? When I am buying today crude at an average of USD 73 per barrel, what is the level of the price increase that we have done? I could have taken the very easy course that instead of doing it through the duty route, I could have done it through the administered price mechanism, but I did not do so because to me it would have been not correct. It is because what I am collecting today is not merely for me; it is also for the State Governments. Thirty-two per cent of these Rs. 26,000 crore will be distributed, as per the recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, to all the States. Thereafter, when I had the meeting with the State Chief Ministers, none of them raised any objection because they understand. What is the level of VAT and what is the level of Sales Tax in the States? It varies from 28 per cent to 38 per cent. They understand and they know where the shoe pinches. Therefore, these aspects are to be kept in view.
For the full text of FM's speech Click here.